McMillen has also said that there is a bigger connection between Time Fcuk and Isaac than one might believe. McMillen describes the defining gameplay mechanic of switching dimensions to solve otherwise unseeable solutions as being able to escape the metaphorical box by seeing things from different perspectives this, he says, he did in his own life. Unlike Aether’s sad, underlying ending of being warped forever from reality, Time Fcuk has different endings that (**SPOILERS**) either allow to you give up and stay in the box forever, kill yourself, or reconcile with future Steven to finally set your future free. McMillen has described this box as the alternate, creative place one uses to escape reality, yet another return to this escapist theme. Each level is a puzzle with no apparent exit, but you can switch dimensions to reveal new paths.
Once in the box, your future self consistently sends you morbid messages about how you two will never escape the box. His future self arrives and urges him to “GET IN THE DAMN BOX”. In this game, Steven (your character) is visibly depressed with life. Let’s look at the other game McMillen claims to have delivered on its theme: Time Fcuk. making Earth (reality) smaller and smaller until it is completely gone. McMillen describes this as similar to when one creates their own elaborate world just to escape reality. The game ends (**SPOILERS**) with returning to Earth and destroying it because it has become so small. It’s a blast to play and pretty short, so be sure check it out. He imagines a world where he rides a giant monster that can swing through clouds and through space to visit new planets. The game begins with a poem about a boy who, for the sake of being brief, is overwhelmed with life. Start with Aether – a game that McMillen says he feels stayed true to the meaning he meant for it. Heavy spoilers follow, and I’ll try to mark them as best I can, but you have been warned….
The Binding of Isaac endings have always been the most mysterious so I will work towards that one at the end. Now, let’s look at three games that are incredibly dissimilar, but that I still see as chronological in a bizarre, thematic way. McMillen inserts many deep themes in his work, but I’ve noticed one particularly overarching theme after viewing all of this new media: it tends to involve a person retracting into themselves when their home and social lives become too much for their view of reality to handle. And yet somehow, he manages to make it all comical…like his games. There is a comic strip he wrote depicting unfeeling adults and very dark themes based on his childhood. Also included in the Collection are drawings and comics from McMillen’s younger life it is as if he wants to be very open with his acknowledgment that his childhood was troubled. First off, The Basement Collection is only $4 and it contains nine of McMillen’s earlier flash games. I’ve been playing through The Basement Collection recently and it contains several exclusive Q&As with Edmund McMillen about some of his older games.